The Arab World: Society, Culture, and State

by Halim Barakat

This wide-ranging examination of Arab society and culture offers a unique opportunity to know the Arab world from an Arab point of view. Halim Barakat, an expatriate Syrian who is both scholar and novelist, emphasizes the dynamic changes and diverse patterns that have characterized the Middle East since the mid-nineteenth century.

The Arab world is not one shaped by Islam, nor one simply explained by reference to the sectarian conflicts of a "mosaic" society. Instead, Barakat reveals a society that is highly complex, with many and various contending polarities. It is a society in a state of becoming and change, one whose social contradictions are at the root of the struggle to transcend dehumanizing conditions. Arguing from a perspective that is both radical and critical, Barakat is committed to the improvement of human conditions in the Arab world.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Middle East, Islam, Politics

368 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1993

Reviews

[Adnan Al Mhamied · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want to know more about the Arab countries, communities, families and individuals( especially the women’s issues). lack of democracy and civil society you have to read it.

[Natalie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good referance for the most part. In some places, though, I feel he is an Arab apologist and does a diservice to the region.

[Patil Balian · Rating 5 out of 5]

a very insightful outlook on the Arab worlds social, economic and political reality based on historical analysis